Today is August 22, 2012, also known as the day Lydia conquered first grade. She loves school. She also loves sleeping in. She's been torn. Once she was awake and had a waffle with chocoloate syrup and whipped cream in her belly, she was ready to rock!

We've done a lot to prepare for this day including, but not limited to, shopping for clothes, shopping for supplies (and I never found Elmer's white washable glue sticks...she got disappearing purple...sue me), studying sight words, shoe shopping, shopping for more supplies, searching for the perfect Monster High back pack and lunch bag, headband shopping, etc., etc. But, the single most important thing was....taking her Great Grandma Raine's silver locket in for a cleaning and polishing so it would be super special for her first day of school. Dad took both girls to the same place he purchased my wedding ring. The woman in the store made it sparkle again while she talked to them about gemstones and jewelry. They even came home with two new rings (plastic, of course)!

So, armed with her gear and her like-new locket, off she went. She took the bus and I followed the bus to school again. Just like last year. I was the creepy mom hiding behind the tree taking photos of children with a zoom lens. I supposed it's better than pretending to paint the lines in the school parking lot, like my mom had to do for weeks because my brother was such a hot mess during kindergarten. Yes, I'm serious.

So, while it's bittersweet to see her grow up so quickly, I know how lucky I am. I have exactly 16 days to prepare myself for painting parking lot lines when Mallory starts preschool. Eat your heart out, Uncle Brian.